Malema says EFF open to coalition with ANC under certain conditions

EFF leader Julius Malema says he would be open to coalitions with the ANC or the DA in 2019 under the right conditions.

According to the firebrand politician, the condition for a coalition with the ANC would be “acting on corruption” and the condition for one with the DA would be them “acting on institutionalised whiteness” within the party.

Making his second appearance in two weeks on host JJ Tabane’s Frankly Speaking show on SABC 3, Malema also told the host he was not concerned with how great a percentage of the vote the EFF would get in 2019.

READ MORE: Malema says he can talk to Ramaphosa, unlike the ‘dunderhead’

The leader of the red berets said the EFF had “proven” to have made an “invaluable contribution” to policy with the 6% they achieved at the last election, and that therefore it didn’t matter whether or not the party passed the 10% mark this time around.

Malema also rejected suggestions that he would ever rejoin the ANC, saying he was not “a return soldier” and that he would never do so because he worried about “what happens to all the people that have joined the EFF”.

The EFF president stressed that if his party did enter into a coalition, they would not do so in a way that would give away the EFF’s vote, stressing that conditions would have to be met and that the proposed coalition would need to work in the party’s favour.

During an appearance on the same show the previous Sunday, Malema was asked by JJ Tabane about his current relationship with the ANC since the removal of Jacob Zuma as both ANC and national president.

The EFF leader admitted he did have a better working relationship with President Cyril Ramaphosa than he had had with Zuma.

“I speak to the president. I call him if I have an issue. I would not have done that with the dunderhead [Zuma]. Because even if I’d called [Zuma], he would not have heard anything.

“Now I speak to the president. If I’m not happy, I am able to raise issues. And I do that with all presidents of political parties, by the way. We are a political party which has 100% political tolerance. We don’t get threatened by any political party.”

He was, however, still largely dismissive of Ramaphosa, who he said was being undermined by the pro-Zuma camp in the ANC, who were allegedly merely pushing him to pronounce on land expropriation in order to “undermine him … to demonstrate that he is powerless”, while they themselves were not really committed to land expropriation without compensation.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.